


Back room business

by Bichwhwifi



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mob, Armitage Hux Has No Chill, Ben is a big softy, F/M, Hux is an asshole, M/M, Mob war, Mutual Pining, Prince Ben Solo, Slow Burn Rey/Kylo Ren, Smut to come later, Soft Ben Solo, action with fluff to come, mob boss ben solo, no one reallt likes hux, rey didn't sing up for this, rey has been through some shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:47:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23795611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bichwhwifi/pseuds/Bichwhwifi
Summary: When Rey finds out that she has been working in a casino that is used as a front for the local mob. When one night she does them a huge favor and saves them from being robed. And in the progress, without knowing she becomes the golden girl of the local mob boss Ben Solo and there is nothing he wouldn't do to keep her safe and out of the light of the mob.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Phasma, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 10
Kudos: 58





	1. The start of the down fall

**Author's Note:**

> Out of nowhere, I got the idea of mob boss Ben and I just couldn't get it out of my head. So I hope you all enjoy it.

Rey hadn’t done a lot of night shifts since she started working at First Order casino in town as a data analyst for the casino six months ago. It had only been in her first month of working at the casino that she switched between the morning, afternoon, and night shifts on a regular. The afternoon shift was the one that she preferred the most, she didn’t hate the night shifts but the morning shift, by now the morning shift's had a special place in hell. Like who the hell is going to voluntarily come to a casino at three in the morning.

But she couldn’t complain about her job, she liked her collages, especially kaydel because for some reason she loved doing night shifts so she would always trade her two night shifts for Kaydel’s afternoon shift. The afternoon shifts were, for the most part, the buzziest shift of all because a lot of people would be coming in between 3 pm and 11 pm, but she loved her job no matter what. But now that Kaydel was going on her paternity leave, and because her fiancé did want her working night shifts any more, she had to get back to doing her owns night shifts.

She now had a reason why she could sleep till far into the afternoon but it also meant that her monthly income would go up a bit. So she really didn’t mind and her best friend, Finn, was also working a night shift so al least she had someone who was in the same shoes as her. 

Finn was the first person she met when she first started working at First Order, he was the one that gave her the tour of the floor filled with slot machines, blackjack tables and all the other stuff you would find in a casino. And the best thing about being friends with Finn was because he worked at the 24/7 buffet that he sometime would sneak up some dessert for her when he was on break. And she loved him to death for it.

“The first one in a while for you right?” Finn asked her as soon as he saw her get out of her car. “You think you’re gonna get through the night?” While they made their way to the entrance. 

“I really don’t know, but I hope. Kaydel told me that Hux is now managing the night shifts and he will give you a strike if he sees you slaking even a little.” She said as the walked inside.

“God, I hate that guy. I think that means there is no way I’m going to be able to come up and sneak you a dessert.” He said giving her a sympathetic look because he knows she loves her sweets.

“Aww, that was just the thing I was looking forward to it.” She said giving him puppy dog eyes. “Well, I guess the horrible coffee is going to be my savior for the night.”

“God I hate that shit, want a red bull from me.” He offered while they made their way to the tag-in station. “No, you have it. I know you’re gonna need it tonight.” She said with a chuckle.

“Well, good luck. Don’t let Hux get you.” He said right after tagging in. “I’ll try my best. I hope to see you here back at seven, don’t get Phasma to get you.” She said right after tagging in herself.

“Will do, see ya in the morning peanut.” He said with a wave before making his way to the kitchen.

After their goodbye, she made her way up to the analytics room, buzzed herself in once again, and made her way to her desk. She read the report of the shift before her like she always did to get a sense of how many people were using the slots, the money that had been made by the house, the money won, etc. It really felt like any other shift to her.

And as Keydel told her Hux was her manager for the night. She never really formally met the guy but there was just something about him that made you hate him. After his first speech of the night about how much they wanted the house to make in profit for the night, and like every manger always said; ‘keep your eyes on your screen and if you see something out of place, report it’.

As it was a Friday it was a busy night and a lot was happening on the floor, almost every machine was in use and almost every table was fully packed. Just three hours into her shift she already downed five cups of shitty coffee and they weren’t really helping her stay awake. She was happy that she brought her glasses with her because she was already feeling a headache come on because of the four screens in front of her.

“Rey Johnson, right?” Was the thing that made her realize that Hux had been standing behind her for some time. “Yes, sir. That’s me.” She said while she sat up straight and turned around to face him.

“I haven’t seen you around here that much, how long are you with us.” He asked her in the same stern voice as before. “Six months, sir. I’ve mostly been trading my night shifts with Kaydel, she wanted some extra cash for the baby and she told me she liked working nights.” She tried her best to explain it to him.

“Ah, so. And how are you with the night shifts?”

“Good, if I may think so myself, with the help of some coffee and sugar I’ll get through it.” She said giving him a reassuring nod. “That sounds good, everything running smoothly?” He asked her another question like she was being interrogated.

“Yes, sir. Nothing out of the ordinary here.”

“Good, and make sure to keep it that way.” He said while giving her a look that probably could kill a kitten before walking away and leaving her to her work.

Another three hours, two cups of coffee, and a bag of candy later she was waiting for the last two hours of her shift to pass by as soon as possible. But sadly enough that was about to change when she saw something on her screen that wasn’t supposed to be there and it woke her up like a cold shower. A minute later she found out exactly what was happening, someone was trying to hack into one of the machines downstairs, and it looked like the number of machines was only getting more and more. And if it didn’t stop before they cached out it was going to end very bad for the house.

“Has anyone seen Hux!” She asked her colleagues with a hint of worry in her voice. But no one would answer her, half of them were probably sleeping because Hux wasn’t around. 

“Someone is hacking the machines and it bad.” She now almost yelled at the top of her lungs and still, she didn’t get much of a reaction. “Where is he? He needs to see this.” She yelled again, now pointing to the red flickering lights on her screen.

“I think he went down to the offices, report to the boss, and all that,” Harry said after he finally got a hold of what she was yelling about.

“Finally, someone. Thank you, Harry. Keep an eye on my screen, inform security. I’m going to look for him because I’m not about to get fired.” She said as she coupled her own iPad to her screens so she could at least show some evidence if they didn’t believe her.

She rushed down the stairs and halls as fast as she could while trying to remember everything Finn had showed her six months ago. And god she was glad that that was paying off now if she was to not about to get fired tonight, she was going to treat him to a nice dinner. 

“Hey, I’m Rey Johnson. I’m from analytics and I really need to see Mr. Hux. It’s an emergency. Like a really big one.” She said to the two bouncers that were standing in front of the large doors while pointing to the blinking red lights that had only grown more in numbers since she left her computers. It took them a few moments but they let her in after mumbling something into their wrists she couldn’t understand.

“Thank you, so, so much guys.” She said as she pushed her way through the doors.

“Mr. Hux, sorry for interrupting, this, whatever it may be but someone is trying to hack into the machines and all. I already made sure security was informed, everyone upstairs is aware and I know you needed to see this right away.” She said as soon as she came to a halt and handing her iPad to the ginger-haired man while she tried to get some air into her lungs.

“And who are you?” Came from a tall dark-haired man who was seated next to Hux he’d grabbed the iPad out of Hux’s hands as soon as he saw something red flickering on the screen.

“I’m Rey Johnson, sir. Analytics department.” She said looking up at the man that was now standing right in front of her and towering over her.

“Rey, how much are we talking. It better be a whole lot for you to just barge in here like that.” She said while looking down at her.

“We’re now speaking of about 68% of the slot machines being hacked, every one of them is at an amount of 22.000 dollars and growing with an amount of fifteen hundred dollars every thirty seconds as we speak. So that is about a loss of 8.272.000 if there isn’t something being done right at this moment.” She said rambling on after she took the iPad out of his hands all the while showing him various screens with stats and data.

“Ok, do you know which machines?” He asked her as soon as she was done and even before he was done she showed him the floorplan with all the flickering red dots on it.

“Get every living soul in here working for us of this right the hell now. Or you all will be the ones paying off this shit.” He yelled out to the dozen men that were in the room while he handed Hux the iPad before he ran out of the room as fast as he could, followed by everyone else in the room.

And just like that, it was like there was an army running passed her and it scared her to death. When she started working here six months ago she could never imagine in her wildest dreams that something like this would happen to her. But it was happening right now and she could only imagine that this was what hell was like.


	2. Down we go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A first meeting with her boss was something she wouldn't have to do sleep-deprived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the comments on the first chapter. I wrote it a 3 am in the morning because my sleep schedule is messed up. I'm already working on chapter three so that will probably be up sometime tomorrow. And PS: English isn't my first language and I try to get out all of the spelling mistakes before I post but there may be some left.

It took him a while to say something to the woman, Rey Johnson, who he was now alone with in his office. He’d never seen her around the casino before, but that was mostly because he’d always be in his office while he came to visit the casino. He was impressed with her work, how she had rushed down her, got herself passed his guards, and how clearly she had explained to him what was happening. That wasn’t part of her job, Hux had to be the one to tell him, he was the one getting paid to do that and she wasn’t.

She was still standing next to him, well he was practically towering over her. He could see that she was scared, by the way, she was looking at the ground and what seemed like she was hugging herself. And he really didn’t know what to do. 

“Thank you, for coming down here to tell me.” He spoke up eventually, getting a surprised look from Rey.

“Well, it’s not over yet. They are still here and the three hundred-seventy-six machines they hacked need to be reprogramed.” She said while she started pacing around the room. “I’ll make sure that both of that will happen as soon as possible. You don’t have to worry about that.” He said while making his way to his desk and taking a quick look at the security footage from upstairs.

“Well, I can’t just turn it off you know.” She said a little frustrated after she stopped pacing around and looked right at him. “I’ve had like seven cups of coffee tonight, this is my first night shift in five months. So I am freaking the fuck out because I was not expecting something like this to happen to me and I feel like I’m minutes away from getting fired and all that.” She said while she made her way over to sit down in one of the many chairs that stood in front of this desk and just let her head fall into her hands.

“Take a breath. And I can guarantee you that you won’t be the one fired tonight.” He let out with a small sigh as he sat down behind his desk.

“Oh god, you’re the boss. Like the boss, boss.” She let out in a gasp as she stood up out of nowhere. “ I’m so, so sorry for barging like that. I can leave if you want. Go back upstairs. Do my job. Like I should be doing right now.” She said while holding her hands up in defense and looking behind her at the door while walking backward to it.

“Stay.” He stood up and let out of nowhere, even surprising himself with his actions. “You did your job, it’s now Hux’s responsibility to sort this shit out and get it fixed.” He told her when she stopped in her tracks and was now facing him once again.

“So, what now.” She asked him as she sat back down in the chair in front of his desk. “Because I really don’t know, we’re not really trained for a situation like this one.” She said while looking around his office.

“Well, first we get the guys who did this away from the machines.” He said as he turned his computer screen so she could see what was happening upstairs. “After that, we try to get the information out of them of who is behind it, no matter what and we’ll go looking for them after that.” He said leaning back into his chair.

After he gave her an answer to her question he could see that that wasn’t the answer she was looking for or even the one she was expecting to come from her boss. “Well, I didn’t mean it like that. I was more looking for the answer ‘oh, yeah. We’re going to call the cops and all.’ And what you did just tell me sounds more like something I never needed to know.” After that answer from her, he knew he’d have to explain everything to her or he’d have to make sure she wasn’t going to tell anyone about what was really going on behind the scenes of the casino.

“I’m more or less talking about me.” She said leaning back into the chair while pointing at herself. “because I really don’t know what to do at this point.” She said while she just closed her eyes and let out a small yawn. 

He didn’t really know what to do, or what to say to her at this moment. He just sat there looking at the small woman who looked like she could fall asleep in the chair at any moment now. Her glasses sat a little crooked on her nose and some strains of hair were scattered all over her face. “You can go home if you want? Your shift is almost over.” 

“Nah, I can’t. Promised a friend that we’d go get breakfast after our shift and if I don’t show up he’ll think something happened.” She said as she sat up, opened her eyes, and adjusted her glasses. 

“Well, you can stay here and wait till we get an update from Hux, or if you want you can go back upstairs. That’s alright with me.” He said, out of nowhere once again surprising himself, this woman was doing things to him.

“I’d like that very much.” She said as he saw a small smile appear on her face. “Then you are free to go.” He said as he gave her a small smile.

“Thank you, sir.” She said as she stood up and gave him another smile. “You can call me Ben if you’d like.” He said as he stood up and walked her to the door. “Thank you, Ben,” She said looking up at him once he stood right next to her.

“Oh, Rey. If anyone asks what happen, just say the cops came and handed it.” He let out once he saw her hand on the door hander. “Will do. Don’t worry.” She said just before she closed the doors to his office behind her.

~~

While on her way back to her office she could still hear the happenings that were going on the floor but the last thirty minutes had drained her so much that she didn’t give it any more thought. As soon as she walked in and made her way back to her desk she was bombarded with questions from her colleagues that she ignored after she thanked Harry for keeping an eye out on her stuff. It didn’t take them long to take the hint that she just didn’t want to talk about and so she waited out till the morning shift came up.

So she packed up her bag and made her way down to tag out and wait outside for Finn to come out. By the look on her face, he knew that something big had happened and he had seen some of it go down so they didn’t really talk about it while they made their way to Maz’ dinner for breakfast. Within record time they had finished their breakfast and went their separate ways home to get some well-needed sleep to be fit enough so they could get their second night shift over with and finally celebrate their long-awaited weekend. 

Once home Rey got right into bed, she set her alarm an hour before her shift was about to start so she could get the max amount of sleep. And with the luck that she had just enough time that she could make a stop at the drive-thru to grab some dinner before work. Sadly she only got a mere four hours of sleep and not the maximum of eight she was hoping for but spending the rest of her day in bed watching Netflix on her laptop, because she had forgotten to ask Ben if she could get her iPad back. But still, even if she wasn’t fully recharged she still had a job to go to.

“So, peanut. Got some sleep after yesterday’s shift. I read online what ‘happened’. Finn said as the met at the parking lot and using air quotes talking about last night. “A little, Hux still has my iPad and all. I didn’t even look online to see what happen. So what did actually ‘happen’?” She asked him after she ate the last of her taco.

“Rigged machine, cops busted them before they could get away.” He said while they stopped at the doors so Rey could finish her drink and frits before they went inside. “Sounds like a good cover story. I was in the midst of it and still don’t know what happened.” She said while finishing her drink and offering Finn some frits.

“I think there’s a lot we’ll never get to know about this place and as long as you don’t go snooping around or asking questions, you’re good.” He said as they made their way inside after Rey threw way her frits. “Yeah, I don’t think I would want to know.” She said as they walked through the staff doors. 

“Well, good luck peanut. I hope it’s quite one.” He said after tagging in and giving her a pat on the back. “Yeah, I hope so too. Have a good one.” She said after she tagged in. “You too.” She heard him say just before he disappeared into the kitchens.

Once she got to her desk, she got settled in and read through the reports from the shifts before. Half of the slot machines were still down so it was going to be an easy night of work in her eyes. Hux didn’t show up to give them all a speech like the night before but instead, they all got an e-mail about last night's happening and thanking the whole department for their work. Like hell, she thought, half of them were asleep when she found out what was going on.

Compared to the previous night this was going to be a lousy one, if she only had her iPad she could at least sneak in watching a movie but she couldn’t. So making it seem like time was going by a little faster she got herself a bit up to date on the news but that got boring really soon.

“Miss Johnson. Would you care to follow me.” Came from the one and only Hux, who no one had seen for the first four hours. “Yeah, sure.” She said and even before she could even get up from her desk and he was already out the door and down the stairs and she thought she knew where this trip down to the offices was going to end. Ben’s office.


	3. Another crazy shift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A second meeting between the two of them ends in sharing their mutual hate for the one and only Hux.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back again with another chapter. I hope you all like it and thank you all for the nice feedback no the last two chapters.

And she was right after she had left her office Hux hadn’t said a thing the whole way here. And just as she thought, they stopped right in front of the large doors of Ben’s office. “I am I supposed to go in or why did you bring me here in the first place.” She said asked the ginger-haired man in front of her with a stern look on her face and a small hint of anger in her voice.

“Just too look at the doors? Or did you want to have a chat with the two guys that may have been the reason you still have a job” She said as she motioned to the two guys she remembered that let her in yesterday after Hux still hadn’t answered her question? “Guys, once again. Thank you for letting me in last night.” She said giving them a small smile and a nod.

“You can go right in miss Johnson.” One of them said a while later after, from the looks of it he got some message through his in-ear. “Thank you, so much. At least someone didn’t let the cat get his tongue.” She said after she had opened the door a bit, giving Hux one last dirty look.

“You wanted to see me, sir.” She said as she closed the doors to Ben’s office.

~

“Yeah, miss Johnson, have a seat.” He said while making a motion for her to take a seat on the empty chair in front of his desk. “I wanted to introduce you to Poe Dameron, he does our IT and the one trying to fix the problem with the machines.” He said after she sat down and introduced her to the man who was already sitting at his desk.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Johnson,” Poe said while he offered her his hand. “Likewise.” She said while shaking his hand and giving him a small nod.

“I asked you here because you were the one who found out about the machines and I wanted to ask you if you’d like to help Poe fix the problem and make sure something like that won’t happen again.” He said once the three of them were down to talk business. “Yeah, I’d love to help.” God, there was just something about her voice that made him forget what he was doing.

“Ok, so then that’s settled.” Came from Poe, that snapped him out of his trace. “Poe, then I’ll get back to you about the details. Sorry to keep you up this late but miss Johnson had the night shift, or we had to wait another week.” He said while getting up from behind his desk and walking Poe to the door.

“No problem, Solo,” Poe said while giving him a pat on the back and a wink. He didn’t really like Poe that much but he needed the guy. “I had other business to attend to anyway. It’s nice doing business with you Solo.” He said as he was already halfway out of the door. “Nice doing business, Dameron.” He said giving the man a slight nod as he watched Dameron walking away.

“Sir, are you done talking to miss Johnson. She is needed upstairs.” He heard Hux ask the moment he was about to close the door behind him. “No.” He said turning back around to face him. “I dismissed her from her current position.” He said to Hux in a stern voice before closing the door in his face.

“So, what was that about. I thought that I wasn’t going to get fired?” He heard Rey ask as soon as he’d closed the door. “Don’t worry, you’re not fired. I was just about to give you a promotion. I just wanted to give Hux a scare after not doing the one thing that I pay him to do.” He answered her with a small chuckle as he made his way back to his desk. 

“Ah, I get it. I have to admit I was also kind of a bitch to him before I walked in here.” She said with a laugh as soon he sat down in the chair next to her. “Yeah, I heard. But he deserved it, so no judgment here.” He said while razing his hands up in defense.

“Thank you.”  
“No, problem.” 

“So, let’s talk some more about that promotion.” He said after the both had stopped laughing. “Sounds good to me.” She said facing him and give him that smile of her that he already loved so much.

“So, as you might have noticed yesterday we don’t really do everything by the books.” He said with a straight face. “I did.” And like she surprised yesterday, she did it again. “You don’t seem to bother by it.” He asked her trying to find out why she seemed so cool with the idea of knowing that her boss was breaking the law daily. 

“No, I’m not. I thought something was fishy when I first started working here and yesterday confirmed that. I’ve pretty much lived around sketchy people my whole life so, as long as I or my friends don’t get hurt or killed. I’m okay with what all of this is.” She told him in a soft voice while looking down and fidgeting with her hands.

“I was not expecting that.” He answered her in a sympathetic voice trying not to imagine what she had gone through to be so cool with everything. “Well, I hear that from a lot of people when I tell them even a little bit about how I grew up. So enough about that. Can we get back to what we were originally talking about.” She let out in a sight only to straighten herself out and put on a professional face in mere seconds.  
~  
“Well, peanut. You look happy for someone who just got off their night shift.” Finn said as soon as he saw her walking up to the tag-in station. “I am. Because for as far as I know. I just did my last night shift as a data analyst.” She answered him with a smile as she tagged out. 

“You look quite happy for someone who got fired?” He asked her with a worried look on his face. “Oh, but I didn’t get fired. I even got a promotion.” She said as she linked arms with him and lead them out the staff doors only to get a confused “How?” from Finn.

“Well, I’m now an adviser on how to not have a repeat of yesterday and all that comes with it. Don’t ask me exactly what that means, because I don’t know really.” She said as they made their way out of the casino to start their weekend. “Good for you girl.” He said giving her an impressed nod.

“Well, partly I owe you. If you hadn’t shown me around my first day I wouldn’t have known where Ben Solo office was.” She explained to him as they set foot outside. “Huh, Ben Solo. As in like the boss, boss?” Finn asked her as he stopped in his tracks. 

“Yeah, less of a dick as I thought he would be after I stormed into his office yesterday. But it seems that we both kind of hate Hux’ guts after what happened yesterday.” She said while she turned to him and gave him a nod. “Ok, enough about work. Time for some breakfast.” Finn said shaking his head and letting out a laugh while they made their way to their cars.

“My treat today. It’s the last thing I could do to thank you.” Rey yelled at her friend just before they both got in their cars.

~

Breakfast and a nap of about nine hours did her good and for the rest of her day she really nothing else planned but hang around on the couch in her apartment, watch some Netflix and order some take out for dinner. She orders some Thai food from that place she liked on the other side of town after she had finished a true-crime drama she had waiting in her to watch list for over a month. Fifteen minutes after she had ordered her doorbell went off but just before she opened her door came to realize it couldn’t be her dinner, it was way too early for that and she wasn’t expecting anyone at this time.

“Are you Miss Johnson?” Said one of the two tall men, dressed in suit and shades, that we’re now standing in front of her apartment door while she was in just a shirt and sweatpants. “Yeah, that’s me.” She said with a nod. “Why are you asking, if I may?” She followed up with while looking at the two men in front of her, waiting for an answer.

“This is for you.” Said the second man as he handed her a box, that had an envelope on top of it with her name on it. “Thank you?” She said as she took the box only to notice that the two men were already standing at the curb about to step into a blacked-out car. “Have a good night miss.” Came from one of them and right after that, the car drove off.

“That just happened.” She said to herself as soon as she closed the door behind her while she just looked puzzled at the box she was holding. “Well, let’s see what’s inside of you.” She said to the box after setting it down on her kitchen counter and took out a knife to open it. It looked like any normal delivery box but when she got those she at least knew what was in them.

After a few deep breaths later she cut the tape that was keeping the box sealed close only to open it up and to find her own iPad inside. “There it is. I thought I forgot something.” She knew right away it was hers, from the crack in the screen to the backfilled with Porg stickers. Now that she had her iPad back she could easily wander around her apartment within one hand her iPad and eating her food with the other all while doing shores. She kinda perfected it at some point in time.

“Netflix, here I come.” She said picking up her tablet, leaving the box just standing on her kitchen counter, and forgetting about all about the envelope with her name on it.


	4. 2 am calls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A 2 am call from her boss wasn't something normal but there was a feeling that it might.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back again with a new chapter. It's a short one but I hope you all like it.

At around 2 am she woke up from a soft humming or buzzing sound coming from the kitchen. It took her a while to her herself up from her couch, where she had fallen asleep by the looks of the ‘are you still watching’ screen on her television screen. She got up and made her way to the kitchen, only to find out that it wasn’t coming from her phone but from the box that was still sitting on her countertop.

The buzzing stopped just before she opened it to look inside, seeing nothing because she didn’t think of turning on a light. But that wasn’t necessary because the bussing started again followed by a light that came out of the box and finally showing it was a smartphone that was lying on the bottom of the box. The call was from an anonymous number and for some reason she picked up the phone in no time, answering with; ‘Rey Johnson seeking’.

“Rey, this is Ben Solo speaking.” Came from a slow voice on the other side of the line. “Ben! Oh, why the hell are you calling me at 2 am, from a phone you send me in a box.” She said once she had processed who was the voice on the other side of the line, her boss.

“Didn’t you read the letter that came with it?” He asked her with a small laugh after both of them had settled into a comfortable silence.“Oh, I totally forgot about that. I kind of got too excited to have my iPad back.” She admitted, feeling a little embarrassed because he’d probably seen the state it was in.

“Understandable.” He said letting out a small laugh. “But I send you the phone as part of your new job so you don’t have to use your own. And this one is encrypted…” but before he could even finish his sentence, she did it for him. “So, it can’t be tapped or hacked into. I know what encrypted stands for Ben.” She said after she finished and let out a chuckle.

“So, Ben. If I may ask. Why are you calling me at 2 am.” She said while walking back to the couch and crawling her way back to the spot she fell asleep in. “I was worried that you didn’t get the package or something had happened.” She heard him say in a slow shaky voice and she even thought that she heard him let out a yawn.

“Ah, that’s so nice of you to do.” She couldn’t help but smile as she talked. “But you sound tired.” She said following up knowing that he probably didn’t have the chance to fall asleep on his couch after eating take out and watching documentaries all night. “Do me a favor Ben and get some sleep.” She let out in a huff as she just grew ever more tired just thinking about him still working at this time.

“I’ll try.” He said in such a soft voice but she could still hear the hesitation in his voice. “Ben, promise me you’ll go and get some sleep and I’ll promise you that next time I will actually read the letters you get delivered at my apartment or answer when you call.” She said trying to get a little leverage over him because she knew some sleep would do him good and she felt sorry for having missed how many calls she had missed from him before finally picking up.

“You promise?” He asked, and his tone of speaking shifted in no time. “I promise Ben. I promise.” She said as she herself dozed off a little more. “Ok, I’ll do it.” He said giving in to her demand. “Good night Rey.” She heard him say as closed her eyes. “Good night Ben.” Was the last thing she said before she fell back asleep.

~

Once he’d finished his phone call with Rey, he knew that she was right. He needed sleep because at this point he knew he’d been awake for at least 56 hours on end and he was going to crash at some point shortly. In the time he’d been awake he had to deal with a hacking attempt and the fall out of that. Just a few hours ago they had found out that one of their own had been feeding information to their biggest rival. So that wasn’t that pretty. But just hearing her voice made him calm down and realize that he’d been running non-stop for a way to long with too little sleep.

He thought that he’d be done with Snoke and all his antics once he made a deal to get out safe and not get tangled with his business or just not get in each other’s way. But apparently, he didn’t remember that Snoke pretty much never got his word. He was happy to be even from under then mans thumb, he wasn’t Snoke’s puppet anymore, he made a name for himself. And now all he did was work, all day every day, that wasn’t something that had changed over the years.

He ignored everyone who wanted to ask him something while he made his way out of his office all the way until he got inside his car and drove away. He really didn't care what they wanted from him, he wanted to go home, sleep and he was the boss so he had the last word on it. He’d get to hear about what happened once he got back sometime tomorrow. If he was even in the mood to come in.

Taking the long way home gave him the time to realize how much he loved his home city how much he hated Snoke for taking advantage of its people. And for all, he knew he wanted to better than that poor excuse of a man he’d worked for long enough. Just because he’d seen how okay Rey seemed to be with the idea of him running an illegal casino and everything that came with it.

He’d requested a full background check on her after she had left his office the first time. It didn’t feel like the right thing to do but he just wanted to know how someone that looked so pure and innocent to him could turn a blind eye to what was happening all around her. And once he’d read through her whole file, he understood and wanted nothing more than to protect her now that he’d brought her into his world of crime.

~

She started off her weekend on Monday asking herself how and why she had fallen asleep on her couch instead of her bed. Only to remember her late-night conversation with her boss, Ben, something that when she really thought about it wasn’t something a normal boss would do. But she now knew, he wasn’t normal, he was a literal mob boss. Someone that would send her encrypted phones and had two men in suits drop off her iPad because she left it at work. And a boss that wrote her a letter for some reason that she still had lying around on her kitchen counter. So it seemed to her that this was the moment to finally read what was in it over a bowl of cereal.

_‘Dear Rey,_

_I once again wanted to thank you for what you did the other night. It meant a whole lot to me even if it might not seem like it._

_As you may already have found out yourself, you left your iPad in the hands of nonother than Armitage Hux. He made fun of it and called it something like a ‘horrid piece of technology.’ After hearing that come out of his mouth I had to remind him that ‘horrid peace of technology’ saved from losing his job and that made him shut up._

_I thought you might miss or need it during your weekend off and I thought that returning it to you was the last thing I could do to return the favor. There is also a phone in the box. I want you to have it so that I have a way to safely contact you whenever it’s needed. The phone has only one number in it, mine, it’s in the contracts under the name anonymous. I’ll send you a text later in the week with al you need to know to start working with Poe on your new project._

_I look forward to working with you. I hope for Hux’s sake your iPad still works, so let me know once you get this if I have a new reason to fire him over._

_With kind regards,_

_Ben Solo’_

Once she finished reading his letter she couldn’t help but laugh. It was something silly to laugh about she couldn’t care less about that right now. He once again made a valid point about the phone and now she knew why he’d called her last night, why he’d called seven times before she finally did pick up. So she thought about something to make it up to him because seven missed calls were a lot so she at least could send him a text asking him how he slept. So she did.

After finishing up her breakfast Rey decided to clean up her kitchen, rid her couch of the five blankets that she had rolled herself into last night. A shower followed after that and then she got ready to go get some groceries because of the night shifts she had nothing eatable left in her fridge or pantry. So if she wanted to eat something that wasn’t takeout she needed to go and get groceries. It was kind of wired to pick up two phones and putting them in her bag before she walked out of the door.


End file.
